Women have been mistreated, enchained and dominated by men for most part of the human history. Until the second half of the twentieth century, there was great inequality between the social and economic conditions of men and women (Pearson Education). The battle for women’s emancipation, however, had started in 1848 by the first women’s rights convention, which was led by some remarkable and brave women (Pearson Education). One of the most notable feminists of that period was the writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman. She was also one of the most influential feminists who felt strongly about and spoke frequently on the nineteenth-century lives for women. Her short story, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ characterizes the condition of women of the through the main character’s life and actions in the text.
It is considered to be one of the most influential pieces because of its realism and prime examples of treatment of women in that time. This essay analyzes issues the protagonist goes through while she is trying to break the element of barter from her marriage and love with her husband. This relationship status was very common between nineteenth-century women and their husbands. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman presents the behavior of society of the time. The protagonist is suppressed by her husband, John, and her brother, though they both mean well. The way she is treated by her husband and her brother is not outwardly “mean” because they never deal with her in anger, but the way that they suppress her by not letting her express her feelings or do what she wants, is still abuse.
Even though, the way that they are treating her is wrong, it does not seem wrong because they both act gentle and kind towards her and make her think that they really do care about her. Throughout the story, the protagonist states her intentions to herself, but then does not act upon them because of her husband. This is further shown when she speaks of her husband and her brother, who ‘is also of higher standing,’ (Gilman 317) showing the high ranking of men in society. They keep her from doing the things she wants because they believe it is best for her to rest. She disagrees.
‘Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good’ (Gilman 317). On page 322, she tries to convince her husband that the treatment is not working, but he does not listen and just tells her to go to sleep. This just shows how she is not considered to know what is best, even for her own mental health. She does not even realize that this is happening.
She just says things like ‘And what can one do?’ (Gilman 317) or ‘But what does one do?” (Gilman 317). I believe the entire purpose for her mental health problems lies in the fact that she is trying to hold back the feeling that she cannot express herself or give an opinion about her own problems. In American Literature Research and Analysis Web Site, Wohlpart claims that prior to the twentieth century, men assigned and defined women’s roles. It is considered improper for a woman to openly express dissatisfaction and anger. She says at the bottom of page 317 that she gets ‘unreasonably angry with John sometimes’ and she blames it on her ‘nervous condition.” John tells her not to ‘neglect proper self control’ (Gilman 317).
So she is not allowed to express herself in speech nor in her writing, which I think she used for comfort and as a release. The mental-battle with doing what is considered proper and what she wants to do is what is slowly driving her crazy. Symbolism is seen all throughout this short story. I have six examples that I found to be the most symbolic of women not having rights in the nineteenth century. The first one is the use of the character Jennie, in contrast to the protagonist, to represent lifeless women who allow such degrading treatment. She is the typical woman desired by men of the nineteenth century, a woman who is a “perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper” (Gilman 320).
Jennie is everything that the protagonist is not. The second example comes from the nursery, the room that the protagonist lives. When they first arrive at the house, John makes his wife live in the old attic nursery. His wife hates this room and he only laughs at her when she complains about the wallpaper in the room.
When the protagonists asked for a simple change of rooms, she was not given it. This shows how men of the nineteenth century held power over women. The nursery can also display her status in society-which is legally a child, because of the rights of women at that time (Eichelberger 287). Also, when John talks to his wife, he refers to her as ‘little girl’ or other nicknames. Because the room was an old nursery the idea of her being a “little girl” or just being lesser of a person-comes to mind. This brings up my third example, of the protagonist never having a name.
John never uses her name, therefore he never really recognizes her as neither a person nor an equal. The symbolism of namelessness suggests worthlessness and inferiority, which reveals a woman’s insignificance in the nineteenth century. The last three examples come from objects inside the nursery. The first one is the bars on the windows. The bars can be symbolic of the division of men and women and how the women are being held back. It may even stand for the “forever imprisonment” of being a child.
The second example is from the immovable bed. The immovable bed symbolizes the marriage that John and the protagonist have, which is nailed to the floor. Even though the protagonist wants to change their relationship, she has no power to do so. The relationship within their marriage comprises of an oppressive husband, and his passive wife. She is stuck in a relationship that she obviously does not want to be in.
Even though the reader sees the protagonist as being passive because she “let’s it alone” (Gilman 317), and even gives in to John because she does not want to be “so silly as to make him uncomfortable” (Gilman 319), the reader can also see that this is not the life she wants to have. The narrator wants to be free and in control of her life-not having it nailed down and in her husband’s control. This is exactly how many relationships were in the nineteenth century. The last example comes from the yellow wallpaper inside the nursery. The protagonist describes the wallpaper in many ways and also exclaims that there is a figure within it. I think that the wallpaper and the figure behind it are symbolic of women’s suffrage.
The protagonist says the figure is ‘like a woman stooping down and creeping about” (Gilman 322). On page 325 she also says, “sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over.” I think the figure symbolizes her, but when she sees “many women,” then it symbolizes all women during this time period. The “creeping around” refers to the women of this time having to “creep around” because they were not allowed to express how they feel. When the protagonist describes the figure shaking the wallpaper, I believe this suggests that inwardly women feel imprisoned in their own lives and unable to escape, it is symbolic of their anger. In the wallpaper the protagonist refers to a front pattern and a back pattern, which isn’t as visible. The front pattern stands for what is proper and how every women seems to be on the outside, while the back pattern is the truth of oppression and suffering.
When the protagonist describes the way John and Jennie look at the wallpaper, on pages 323 and 324 seems to mean that people know this oppression is going on because they see it too, but refuse to admit it or do anything about it. At the end she rips off as much of the wallpaper as she can to symbolically free herself and the figure behind the paper. Which also stands for women finally “freeing” themselves in society. By accepting my reading you are able to see prime examples of woman’s suffrage because of their husbands in the nineteenth century. ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’ on the surface, seems only to relate about one woman’s struggle with mental illness and her relationship with her husband, but through these six examples you are able to see that it actually incorporates themes of women’s rights.
Gilman mainly used the setting to support her themes. This short story was written in 1892, at that time, there was only one women’s suffrage law. Now, because of many determinant feminists, speakers, teachers, and writers, the women’s rights movement has grown increasing large and is still in progress today. This quite recent movement took over more then a century to grant women the rights they deserve to allow them to be seen as equals to men. This story was a creative and moving way to really show how life may have been as a woman in the nineteenth century. Works citedEichelberger, Clayton.
American Literary Realism 1870-1910. Vol. 8, issue 1. University of Texas, 1975.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ (p. 316-327). Literature: Reading and Writing With Critical Strategies.
Ed. Steven Lynn. University of South Carolina, 2004 Pearson Education. Infoplease. Almanacs: “Key Events in Women’s Rights Movement” 2005 31 March 2005 Wohlpart, Jim. American Literature Research and Analysis Web Site.
“Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” 1997. Florida Gulf Coast University.